1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to transmitting and receiving viewing restriction information, and more particularly, to transmitting and receiving viewing restriction information of an application of data broadcasting.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a viewing restriction rating is used in order to protect minors in a broadcasting environment including harmful programs by restricting the viewing of movies or broadcasting programs involving sex, violence, or the like, which are received by a digital television (TV) receiver.
For example, a viewing restriction rating with respect to a TV program of a North American type digital TV is restricted by Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Television Parental Guidelines (TVPG).
TVPG restrict viewing by using ratings based on contents as well as ages. Examples of rating based on ages include TV-MA, TV-14, TV-PG, TV-G, etc.
A related art broadcasting viewing restriction method according to the Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) standard will be described.
Generally, a broadcasting system includes a head-end and a terminal.
The head-end transmits a transport stream (TS) to the terminal. In this case, a single TS includes various element streams (ESs). Program map tables (PMTs) contain program information to be decoded. Each PMT is linked to a content advisory (CA) descriptor. In this regard, the CA descriptor provides content viewing restriction information (e.g., a parental rating).
However, a CA descriptor used in a conventional terrestrial digital TV broadcasting system is updated at regular periods. In addition, since the head-end needs to continue to update in order to set detailed viewing ratings, overhead may occur in the head-end.
In addition, recently, as digital broadcasting has rapidly developed, broadcasting stations have started transmitting various data broadcasting signals as well as video and audio signals. Thus, since a related art viewing restriction method applied through broadcasting or moving pictures is applied to moving image contents, it is difficult to apply the viewing restriction method to contents such as applications that are not dependent on a reproduction time of a moving image.